International

European Stadium: AS Roma, FC Everton, Red Bull Arena

AS Roma Stadium - This March 26, 2014 artist rendering provided by Italian Serie A soccer club Roma, shows the new stadium to be build on the outskirts of Rome.

Italy’s tradition-rich soccer club AS Roma received the green light for a new 52,500 capacity home stadium in the capital city.

The entire project, which includes a leisure space and conference center dubbed Roma Village, new training grounds as well as an entertainment district called Convivium, is estimated to cost €2bn ($2.4bn), of which the stadium will swallow up €400m ($473m).

The stadium’s capacity can be expanded to 60,000. Tours will be able to make use of the full stadium or a 14,000-seat amphitheater configuration. Additionally, Roma Village will comprise a 2,500-seat Spanish steps style amphitheater as well.

Construction is estimated to take place in two phases over the next five years. Phase one will last for 26 to 28 months and will result in 75 per cent of the project being completed. Phase two will be a 36-month process to complete the final 25 per cent.

The stadium itself may already be opened in 2020/21, depending on the progress.

The search for a site for AS Roma’s new stadium began in 2012. The club unveiled the project in 2014, initiating the approval process, which closed this week – with good news for the club. “I’m delighted because I know what this decision could mean for Rome itself, for our club’s future and for our fans – and we want to give them the home they deserve,” said AS Roma president Jim Pallotta, who is originally from Boston, MA.

AS Roma has been sharing the capital’s long-standing Olympic Stadium, the Stadio Olimpico, with its local rival Lazio since 1953. The approval for the new building coincided with AS Roma’s Champions League qualification, finishing their group in first place.

FC Everton Secures 200-year Lease For New Stadium

A club with less fortunate results, England’s FC Everton, recently secured a 200-year lease for a new 50,000 capacity stadium on Bramley Moore Dock in Liverpool.

Everton Stadium Development Limited, a subsidiary of Everton Football Club, and the Peel Land & Property Group signed the agreement. It means that the club controls the land on which its new stadium would be built on.

It still needs to secure planning permissions and funding, which amounts to at least £300m ($402m).

The stadium is part of Peel Land & Property’s £5.5bn ($7.4bn) redevelopment plan for North Liverpool, which the investment group claims to be “one of the largest and most transformational in the city’s history.”

Robert Elstone, Everton Football Club’s chief executive, said “gaining control of the site was essential for us to be able to move forward with the next stages of the project – finalizing the funding agreement with the Council and preparing for the submission of a planning application – both of which we hope to do in the new year.”

Red Bull Arena Renovations Good To Go In Germany

Leipzig council approved the sale of the city’s Red Bull Arena to name sponsor Red Bull, which can now prepare for the planned renovation due to start in 2018.

The stadium’s capacity can now be increased to 57,000, including new VIP lounges and seats in the areas behind the goals. Construction work is supposed to being next summer.

Red Bull is also investing in a new multi-functional 10,000 capacity arena in Munich’s Olympiapark. The venue would be exclusively used for sports, tenants include ice hockey club EHC Red Bull München, FC Bayern Munich’s basketball team and the city of Munich.

The new arena is currently in search of a naming rights sponsor, since the main-contractor Red Bull’s reputation isn’t the greatest in the Bavarian capital. But without the privately owned company’s finances, however, the €100m ($118m) project could not have been realized, FC Bayern München president Uli Hoeneß told Munich’s Merkur.

He added that negotiations with “a very prestigious company” about sponsoring the arena’s name for the next 15 to 20 years had already reached an advanced stage. “If we’re lucky,” Hoeneß said, “the arena will be completed towards the end of 2020, otherwise by the end of 2021.”